Stay with current job or leave for better paying job? [closed]

Question

Good morning!

I'm computer science graduate and I would like to ask for your inputs regarding my current predicament.

I used to be a software engineer in an IT company. I was a functional support of a certain system. I left the company to pursue another career which was a programming career. I overestimated my optimism and thought I could easily land a new job but failed. I went freelance for one year. I know, I made a very wrong decision about this but I learned my lesson.

Now, I'm working as a database encoder (definitely a job mismatch since im in the medical department and doing a non-IT related work) in a healthcare company (current salary is about 25% lower) for about 3 months now. My Aunt is friends with my boss here so I couldn't reject the offer to work and I thought it's better to have a regular job (even if it pays lower than my previous job) than doing freelance work.

While I highly appreciate the way my boss takes care of me and her effort to build me up so I could move up the ladder and be promoted (she talked to me and told me that the president of the company is eyeing me to be the lead of a new business unit they are planning to create), my current pay is not really enough to get by smoothly. I couldn't have savings at all and literally live on an equivalent of $2/day. I want to apply for another IT company which will guarantee me at least a 50-75% increase in pay.

If you were in my place, would you stay in your current job with a small salary in hopes of having a higher pay once you get promoted and because your boss is making an effort to build you up, or leave as soon as you land a new job in an IT company which definitely will pay higher?

Honestly, I don't really like my current job (i dont hate it too, it's just that I think I'd be happier working in an IT field) but what matters to me is the pay since I need money to live because I support my family (bills, food, and medication).

I am open to all sorts of opinion be it negative or positive.

Thank you so much!

EDIT: I couldn't delete my post. Question already flagged for being Off-topic and asked mods for thread deletion or closure. thank you so much to all who commented! Will read rules next time prior to posting.

Answer 1

You already answered your own question. You would rather work in IT than this new field.

Long term the IT pay prospects are more. Job is easier and many things to learn.

And why is that they would make you the business head of an unit ? Do you have the necessary qualifications ? Worse thing i read is you got this job through some family connection.

My suggestion go for the IT job.

Answer 2

I wouldn't leave the company after three months, especially if you like it there and have an opportunity to advance. Data encoding is not "non-IT-related work." IT is all about data, and an intimate understanding of the data you are working with is essential to being able to do any sort of software design and/or engineering. So, you have to get familiar with whatever medical coding standard your company is using, and you are doing precisely that.

Now, it's very important to keep in mind that in IT, sometimes you get to ride the horses, and sometimes you get to shovel out the stables. No matter how high up you are in the organization. If you are willing to do the latter as often as is necessary to keep things running in the right direction, you will become more and more valuable to the organization. Right now, you are shoveling the stables. If you put in two years and that's all you get to do, then maybe you need to find a job where you get to ride sometimes as well. But not after three months.

You could find that higher-paying job, and two years from now feel even more stuck than you do now, so don't get the grass is greener on the other side of the fence problem.

You might have a chat with your boss, and see if you can get a better feel for what the job is that the president is eyeing you for. I wouldn't discuss pay here even if it is your primary concern. Rather, I would discuss your genuine interest and curiosity in what they want you to do. You will probably have some input here as well, in particular if you can find ways that your boss's feedback about the new job description ties in with your own interests and ambitions. If you can, then share those: "That sounds interesting. I can see how that would give me the opportunity to do more of x, which is where my real passion lies."

If you really can't afford to work for what they're paying you, you might want to have a talk with your aunt in confidence, and see what she thinks about asking for a raise. It seems awfully soon to me to be asking, but she may know more than I do, especially if it's a small company. If she doesn't think you should ask this early, maybe (and I mean maybe, I don't know at all whether this will work for you on a personal level) you can go find a part-time job for a couple of nights in the week, and tell your boss that you had to take it to help pay the bills for a while, and you aren't able to stay late on Wednesdays or Fridays or whatever. Then you're putting them on notice that you need to make more money, but you like working there so much that you're reluctant to look elsewhere.